Through The Looking Glass ...

[BadeMillsap]

I have been attending a number of "antique auctions" in the weeks since retirement seeking out "treasures" that need my attention ... meaning things I can buy CHEAP and refurbish to something I can either sell, pass to a relative or keep myself ... and I have made a few scores ...

This most recent is headed to my 19month old granddaughter's bedroom.

I had been watching for a nice "cheval mirror" in oak that would fit with the other furnishings in her room and finally came across what I THOUGHT was just the thing ... it was a "cheval" LOOKING mirror that someone had "mounted" in a really poorly made pine standing frame ... the mirror frame had been very badly stained almost black ... it was NOT a pretty sight and I was able to buy it for very little considering it was beveled glass, of good size and not broken (no one was bidding against me for the sorry thing).

I'm sorry to say I can't locate the "before" pictures I took but suffice it to say it looked nothing like the end result ... one thing I discovered was that this mirror did not start life as a floor stand "cheval mirror" but rather had been mounted to a wall (the mounting holes were evident once I began removing that ugly black finish).

Another thing I determined was finding "Cheval mirror" swivel bolts even on the internet is harder than it looks ... oh ... I found several places with them listed but when I contacted the vendors everyone of them was out of stock with MAYBE a ship date in mid-September .... boooooo

So I did a little engineering on some lamp finials and came up with what I believe is a fairly decorative solution ...

Anyway ... hopefully I can post a couple of pics below ...

[jking]

Nice job on salvaging that oak. The stand matches the mirror frame very well. It always makes me cringe when I see nice oak that has been painted or poorly finished. Congrats to you for the refinish job.

[lrogers]

Oh that did turn out nice and your "engineered" swivle bolts look great!

[pelligrini]

That's a nice looking piece. Two of my favourite materials, beveled glass and oak. What did you use to finish?

Hopefully it'll last long enough for your great granddaughter's bedroom too.

[BadeMillsap]

Thanks guys ...

The standing wood frame wood was all scrap rift sawn white oak left over from the crib I built for this grand daughter except for the two long uprights which were from the same stash but I had to cut up and plane a previously unused board ...

As far as finish ... I used some non grain raising aniline dye diluted in denatured alcohol to match the mirror frame (after stripping) to the floor stand and then used minwax golden oak oil based stain as an oil wash over that to even things out. The top finish on both is satin wipe on poly just to protect the finish realizing this was going in a youngsters bedroom.

All of the joinery is actually doweled (used my Dowelmax which is a wonderful invention!) and the "design" of the floor stand was basically "seat of the pants planning" taken from a picture I saw in a magazine.

[Pappy]

Beautiful refinish/restoration job! Nice job on the swivel bolts.

[SARGE..g-47]

Looks great Bade.. very nice job on the chamfers at the top of the support legs..

[Norm in Fujino]

Good job on realizing your prevision of what the mirror could be.

[4estgump]

The grand baby will spend many enjoyable hours in front of that. It shows the time you put in it. Beautiful job and project.

4est